Weekend on Roller Skates!

Whoa! What a weekend! I worked both days as the only physician in the unit. Our NICU is still filled to capacity on most days so it made for an intense couple of days. Saturday wasn't too bad, as most everything was going according to plan, but as we all know the chances of that trend continuing for two consecutive days with 60 patients is about as close to zero as it gets.
Yes, Sunday got hairy! Two patients on opposing sides of the unit became rapidly more ill requiring frequent interventions in an attempt to stabilize. Several more patients developed less serious issues, but still required more time, more attention. As I continued to wade through it, the constant murmurings of, "The mother with the 28 weeker is dilated to 9cm... gonna deliver any time... " The voice in the back of my head, "ignore it... it's rumor... focus on what's going on right now... deal with that when it happens... " Me and the crew managed to get through it, and with the evening came a slowing of the pace, a calming of the pulse of the unit, a sort of anti-climactic winding down. And so I slowly plodded my way home to hang up my roller skates until my next weekend in the unit.